TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls has experienced record-high December temperatures over the past week, making the prospect of a white Christmas seem unlikely. Despite the lack of snowfall, city plows remain ready for action.
The city has unveiled a new interactive map showing its snow removal plans for when winter weather finally arrives.
WATCH: Record December temps in Twin Falls, but city plows are still ready! New interactive map shows snow removal priorities
As residents take advantage of the extended fall weather, the city is preparing for an inevitable change in Mother Nature's mood, regardless of severity.
"Last year was a similar year – we didn't really have the crews out that much at all last year. For the entire winter season, I think we were out just 2 or 3 times," Josh Baird, Public Works Director, said.
Despite a second consecutive year with minimal snow, the city maintains a fleet of 5 plows, 2 graders, and a loader. Even with December temperatures breaking historical records, salt, brine, and plows are prepared for deployment.
"We're still monitoring the weather to figure out when it is going to snow. As soon as they figure out when that snow is going to come, then we'll start prepping with brining the roads," Baird said.
RELATED: Record-breaking heat hits Idaho in mid-December
To help prepare residents, the city has released a new interactive map showing which roads will receive priority treatment.
"We have about 666 miles, lane miles, of streets within the city, and we plow about 270 miles of those," Josh Palmer from the City of Twin Falls said.
The detailed map shows the city will focus on main thoroughfares for business and residential access, while neighborhood streets will be left unplowed.
"We don't plow residential streets because our plows would put all of that snow and ice right on your driveway – right on your front doorstep – we've done that before, and we received complaints— we don't want to do that to people again," Palmer said.
One advantage of the warm weather is that city crews have been able to extend leaf collection services.
"We love our trees, but when those leaves fall, it creates a huge mess and so the more citizens can help us remove that from the streets and storm drains, the less likely we [are to] have any flooding," Palmer said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
